Blake has been enjoying all the different methods I have been using to help him with his reading comprehension. Karli and Chase are typically around while we are reading aloud to one another. We take turns, Blake reads to me, I read to him. The other night I tried something new that is suppose to help with reading comprehension. Teachers say that comprehension has a lot to do with imagination. Your brain has to be able to create pictures in your head while you are reading to help you better understand and remember what is being read.
I grabbed this gigantic Fairy Tale book that we have that honestly we have never opened before. It was a gift from someone many years ago. It has stories in it like Red Riding Hood, The Princess and the Pea, Three Little Pigs, and so on. I had all 3 kids (obviously Andrew doesn’t participate in these activities) lay on my bed with their eyes closed as I read the story. They were told to use their imagination and create pictures in their head as I told the story. After awhile I would ask each of them what they were imagining. Blake did really well and Chase and Karli just gave different versions of whatever Blake said. If Blake said Red Riding Hood had brown hair, Chase said she had red hair. Then I would show them any pictures that are in the book and we talked about how their visions were different. It was fun actually. I love anything to do with books so I was enjoying myself. I could have read another story, but after the kids were done talking my ears off it was time for bed.
About 15 minutes after I tucked them in Chase came downstairs and told me he couldn’t sleep. When I asked him why he said that he was trying to figure out how to paint pictures in his head like I told him to. I said, “You just close your eyes and imagine whatever you want to, there is no right or wrong answer”. He then replied, “I am trying to, but whenever I close my eyes all I see is BLACK”!
